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         One of the best loved of all Christmas carols is “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, written more than a hundred years ago. The first part of the song is  primarily historical, celebrating those events that surrounded the birth of Jesus. But  the last verse makes Christmas a very personal thing. It says: “O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend on us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.”       We have never understood Christmas until it goes beyond a historical fact and becomes a personal experience. It is […]

         In the famous story of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare raised the now famous question, “What’s in a name?”  And in the next sentence he gave his equally famous answer, “That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.”          In his poetic language, Shakespeare was saying that names, in and of    themselves, have no meaning.  And in our western culture that is largely true.  Names are simply labels that are applied to people for purposes of identification.  They are sometimes chosen by association as when a child is […]

       For most of us, Christmas is a time of happiness.  We have learned to love everything about it – the music, the lights, the giving and receiving of gifts, the fellowship of friends and family.  Year after year, we anticipate this season with great excitement and remember it with fondness, long after it is gone.         But amid all this happiness, we need to remember that for some people Christmas is the loneliest time of the year.  For some, Christmas festivities remind them of broken relationships, and the togetherness of others serves to accentuate their own sense […]

          It is a fact that we can never really know where we are unless we have an awareness of where we have been. It is foolish to try to go back and live in the past. But it is an act of wisdom to remember it, reflect on it, and learn from it.            Any accurate inventory of the past will include some happy memories.  We should hold on to those and carry them with us from one year to the next. Then when the road gets difficult, as surely it will, we can take out one of those […]